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India boasts many traditional regional dance forms, but kathakali, with its elaborate, colorful costumes and masks is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive. With roots going back to ancient Hindu temple plays (some think as far back as the 2nd century), kathakali, now the state dance of Kerala, evolved into its current dance-drama format in the 17th century, under the direction of the Rajah of Kottarakkara, who took the performances out of the temples and palaces and directly to the villages. Founded in 1990, this noted center honors kathakali—as well as Indian classical music, and other traditional arts—with nightly performances, 365 days a year. The kathakali shows are usually about 90 minutes, and include a informative demonstration; come an hour early to watch the actors undergo the elaborate makeup and costuming process.

A UNESCO World Heritage site, this 1,700-year-old palace sits on the Adriatic seafront, serving as the focal point of Split. It was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian as a seaside retirement home and has served as a refuge for many a conqueror over the centuries. Today, some 2,000 locals reside within the compound’s thick walls, making it a lively urban quarter. Getting lost in the labyrinth of surrounding streets is the best way to explore downtown Split—as you meander around, you’ll stumble across lively cafés and shops tucked into millennia-old buildings. Be sure to check out the Peristil, an imperial square framed by two colonnades, where Diocletian used to address the public. Towering above the square is Split’s major landmark—a 187-foot-tall belfry that you can climb for panoramic views of town.

The Grand Hotel Tremezzo has been the summer home for Europe’s jet set since opening in 1910. Over the past five years, the Como-based De Santis family, which has owned the lakefront hotel since 1975, has ushered the grande dame into the modern era by building eight rooftop suites, expanding the spa, and adding a hammam. Marble bathrooms and champagne-stocked minibars make the rooms feel fit for aristocrats, but the hotel is far from buttoned up. Guests can splash around in one of three pools, including one that actually floats on the lake. Locals join guests at Saturday beach parties. From $420. This appeared in the October 2015 issue.

Seclusion and tranquility are the new forms of luxury in a world that is so accessible and plugged in. Aqua Wellness Resort successfully marries contemporary luxury accommodations with serene surroundings, providing a memorable and rejuvenating experience for travelers. Accessible by a two-and-a-half-hour drive or 40-minute helicopter ride from Nicaragua’s international airport in Managua, Aqua offers peace and privacy so that you can enjoy the beautifully wild landscape of Nicaragua’s Pacific “Emerald Coast.” 24 Tree Houses accommodating 50 luxurious villas and suites dot Aqua’s forested hillside, which overlooks a private, white sandy beach.

Birders, hikers, and all manner of nature lovers score big with a visit to this former NASA tracking station and U.S. naval base on the northeast coast of Bermuda. Despite its name, Cooper’s Island is no longer an island, having been connected to St. David’s Island via land reclamation since the 1940s. While the U.S. military has moved on, the wildlife sanctuary is still home to the base of a radar tower that tracked shuttle movements in the early days of the Space Race. Today, the 12-acre reserve is crisscrossed with paths and fringed with pristine beaches. Of particular note is Clearwater Beach, which teems with conch and turtles. Inland, a restored lake and marshland are home to crabs and seabirds. The former radar tower makes an ideal perch for bird-watching.

San Francisco-based selvedge denim shop Self Edge has hung a shingle south of the border, becoming one of the first retail boutiques to open on the Flora Farms property in San José del Cabo. Aiming to be not just a store, but an experience, Self Edge is best-known for its well-tailored denim jeans. At the Baja shop, guests can also find Japanese-designed cabana shirts and resort wear, not available elsewhere in Mexico. The owners are also collaborating with local artists to make indigo-dyed sandals that will be exclusive to the store. Other unique jewelry and accessories are also on offer.

Pack your bikini and a bottle of cold Ticinese rosé and head to the campanile-spiked hills above Locarno. In Switzerland’s sunny and steep-sloped Italian-speaking Canton Ticino, locals and visitors alike love a bracing dip in the cool mountain water—and there’s no better place to witness this than at the historic Ponte dei Salti (Jumping Bridge), a double-arched bridge across the Verzasca River where bronzed young Ticinese plunge into the river’s lustrous emerald depths. From the city of Locarno, the intense hike to the ancient Roman relic hugs the Verzasca River and passes through chestnut groves, vineyards, fragrant pine forests, and the iconic Contra (or Verzasca) Dam where scenes from the James Bond thriller GoldenEye were shot. If your time is limited, take the 45-minute PostBus to the bridge (included with a Swiss Travel Pass) and walk down. Or take the bus all the way to the end of the road in the Alpine village of Sonogno, where a jade-colored waterfall pool, the river’s source, awaits.

Let the Urubamba River set your course during a thrilling rafting adventure along the Ollantaytambo rapids, available through the Belmond. The river helped form what is now the Sacred Valley, and along the way you’ll not only sense its power, but also get a feel for some less visited corners of the region it created. You’ll pass towering eucalyptus trees and the ruins of Inca terraces and more as you make your way down river, ending with a picnic lunch before returning to the hotel by car. Photo by Rod Waddington/Flickr.

While certainly a haul from Quebec City (give yourself three hours, including the free ferry ride), a journey to the Saguenay Fjord could not be more worthwhile! The town of Tadoussac serves as the perfect base to explore the wildlife-filled ecosytem at the confluence of the fjord and the St Lawrence river, complete with beautiful old hotels and a abundant dining options. And the three day camping/hiking/kayaking expedition is a stress-free way to truly dig deep into this beautiful edge of the earth.

Superlatives abound at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. The 73-story structure is the tallest building west of Chicago and, at 889 rooms, the largest InterContinental in the Americas. Opened in 2017, the hotel was also downtown’s first LEED Gold Certified building for Building Design and Construction. All that record setting is matched by a big personality and plenty of luxury, too. Inspired by architectural historian Reyner Banham’s book Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, the hotel features light fixtures based on schematic maps of L.A.’s freeways, hand-painted murals, and billboard-style headboards with city scenes.

Club Level suites are stocked with Le Labo Santal 33 amenities, customized with guests’ names. And on the 71st floor, bathrooms are cheekily decorated in Marie Antoinette and cowboy themes. The Versailles-inspired restaurant La Boucherie is an American steakhouse with a French twist. In the restaurant’s VIP Starlight Booths, diners enjoy wine-paired chef’s tasting menus along with jaw-dropping views. Another restaurant, Sora, is the place for intimate Japanese omakase. Be sure to order the 1100 Feet—an original blend of liqueurs reflective of L.A.’s confluence of cultures—at Spire 73, the Western Hemisphere’s highest open-air bar. Pro tip: Book the Presidential Suite, and you’ll be rewarded with another kind of epic view—an infinity bathtub that fills from the ceiling.

Every day at noon at the Plaza de Armas (also called Plaza Mayor), trumpets blare, drums pound, and cymbals crash as the guard changes outside the presidential palace. Enjoy the Spanish fanfare like a local: from a plaza bench with an ice cream cone. The Plaza is also the site of festivals, concerts, and the much-loved annual National Pisco Day when the fountain spouts free high-proof grape brandy for all.

One of the largest urban parks in the world, Munich’s English Garden was founded in 1789, when Elector Carl Theodor ordered a public park to be built along the Isar River. Having undergone many alterations over the centuries, it now offers a slew of contemporary leisure activities. Cyclists, joggers, and rollerbladers make use of almost 50 miles of pathways, while less-active visitors head to the Japanese teahouse (opened in 1972) or one of several beer gardens (the one next to the Chinese Tower is Munich’s second largest, with seating for 7,000). Additionally, there’s a man-made lake, soccer fields, a small amphitheater, a carousel, a Greek temple, and even a popular surfing wave on the river. The park’s large meadows are ideal for picnicking, barbecuing, and sunbathing, making the English Garden one of Munich’s most popular hangouts in summer. That said, autumn is also a spectacular time to stroll the grounds and peep all the changing leaves.

A four-kilometer seaside promenade is the perfect place for a stroll at Scheveningen, a beach resort in Den Haag’s wealthy northernmost district. In addition to a sandy beach, colorful esplanade, pier and the Scheveningen lighthouse, there’s a Sea Life aquarium, Pathé cinema, the Steigenberger Kurhaus music theater, Scheveningen Museum and a casino. Trendy clubs, restaurants, surf schools and other water sports options line the wide Noorderstrand (North Beach) boulevard. After a three-year metamorphoses completed in 2013, the beach-side stretch offers the best of sun, sand and surf on Holland’s western coastline. Giant sculptures by the sea add a whimsical touch, while numerous bars and eating establishments provide spots to grab a drink or a meal while watching the action in the harbor.

The California Academy of Sciences is an unfortunately stuffy name for an institution that is anything but staid. The country’s largest natural-history museum includes an aquarium, a planetarium, an enormous rain-forest exhibit under a 27-meter-tall (90-foot-tall) dome, and a living roof that looks like a science-fiction fantasy. A visit here can feel like a trip to an amusement park, with a series of attractions to check out, but all of them are educational. The building itself is part of the appeal of the Academy. (Like the nearby de Young, the old home of the California Academy of Sciences was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and starchitect Renzo Piano designed its very environmentally friendly replacement.) It would be easy to spend an entire day or more seeing all of the Academy’s exhibits, so be prepared to pick and choose among them.

Rumi was born in Afghanistan, spent time in Persia (Iran), then settled in Konya, Turkey when his father was invited there to be a scholar. Rumi became an Islamic scholar himself teaching peace, love, and tolerance. He built quite a following of the educated – who saw him as a wise philosopher – and uneducated – who saw him as a prophet. Rumi’s life changed when he created an intense friendship with an older, wandering mystic -- Shams of Tabriz. Shams was a brilliant outcast and Rumi was deeply drawn to a learning relationship with this man who was ultimately supposedly killed by some of Rumi’s fans due to the influence he was having on the younger Rumi. From this tragedy, Rumi found a deep well inside himself filled with an ability to channel poetry. It was about this time that he also introduced the experience of divine harmony that comes from whirling. Thus, a new form of religious ecstasy was created and the Whirling Dervishes (also known as the Mevlevi order) have been doing this annual ceremony marking Rumi’s death for almost 750 years. This is the start of the Sema (ceremony) with each Semazen (dancer) bowing upon arriving on stage and the Basi (the leader) at the “head of the class.” The mesmerizing ceremony represents man’s journey to the oneness of perfect truth – amidst separation and longing - through the power of divine love. In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed the “Mevlevi Sema Ceremony” as amongst the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.